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Interview: Slipknot’s Clown Discusses His New Pain And Art, The Black Dots Of Death

Slipknot isn’t the only thing that’s keeping The Clown busy these days. In the midst of what’s arguably been the toughest past eight months for Slipknot, Shawn “Clown” Crahan is about to reveal his newest pain and art to the world: The Black Dots Of Death. After a few delays, his new group’s debut album Ever Since We Were Children will be released on March 29 via Rocket Science Ventures. Crahan took the time to talk with Metal Insider to discuss the inspiration behind Black Dots Of Death, the artistic side he hopes to share through ApocalypticNightmare.com, and what the future has in store for him, the Black Dots Of Death, and Slipknot.

What inspired the birth of The Black Dots Of Death? What are you hoping to express through this project that you couldn’t otherwise do with Slipknot and/or Dirty Little Rabbits?

I recently turned 41, and a lot of things happened in the past four years of my life. I lost my mom, I lost my dad, and tragically last year I lost my first best friend Paul Gray. I have many best friends, but he was my very first best friend that actually passed away. And I’m an only child, so losing my mom, dad and first best friend really took a toll on my heart and creativity and who I am in this world. So I basically started taking a really good look at my life, and a year ago I started on Black Dots Of Death. I started reinventing myself by looking at my evolution, and my evolution comes from a very spiritual, mental, but mainly physical aspect from almost twelve years ago when I started the band, the enigma known as Slipknot, with Paul. I tried some different bands, and they were ways of expressing feelings of another side of me, because I think it’s important for fans, especially fans of Slipknot and of myself, to understand that it’s alright to experience other things than just metal and maybe the things that we take most serious. So I experimented with a couple of my other feelings growing up in the 70’s, listening to The Beatles, The Doors, ect.

I started Black Dots Of Death a year ago with this idea that anger is just a part of me. It’s in my blood. It’s who I am. I built a career off of anger and almost violence, and I did it because I was looking for salvation and a way to heal myself with the pain that I have. Everyone has pain, and my pain is my pain. It’s different from your pain. My pain isn’t any worse or any better than yours. We all have our own personal pain because we’re all original to ourselves, but I felt that music was the best way to get salvation for what I needed to be able to perform. And that’s half the reasons behind the masks because I didn’t really want to share my pain on a personal level as much as I wanted to get it out on an internal level.

So now I’m 41. I lost my parents. I lost one of my best friends who I started Slipknot with. My oldest child is 19. My second oldest child is 17, then 14, and then 7. I’ve been married for 18 years. I don’t believe I’m having a midlife crisis, but I believe that I’m taking an inner look at my life. And also recently, I had a very, very, very close friend suffer a traumatic experience where he could’ve died. After weeks, and weeks, and weeks of recovery when I finally got to speak to him, one of the things he told me he had learned through his experience was that if there’s something to do today, he’s going to do it because there is no guarantee for tomorrow. And like I said, about a year ago I started putting together this idea of what I would want to do, and it was based on heavy music. It was based on dangerous thinking. It was based on the ability to take my art to the next level because I don’t give a fuck. I’m tired, and I’m embarrassed by the human condition. I’m embarrassed by television. I’m embarrassed by what’s exposed to children and what children think is popular. The roles models they get, and some of these RIDICULOUS reality shows!

So I felt my anger coming back. It’s more of an evolved anger. I’m way more dangerous now than I was eleven, twelve years ago because we’re not really interested in the physical aspect of getting out my anger, and it involves more intellectually, spiritually and mentally because of the evolution and experiences that I’ve had because of Slipknot. I’ve been able to go all around the world, been thrown into circumstances that some I was comfortable with and some I wasn’t comfortable with. But I feel like I’m in all of my art and my psyche in what I want to do, and Black Dots Of Death is a personal look into who I am and what I do. Whereas I’m only 1/9th of the enigma known as Slipknot, and we have a saying that the pieces are only as good as the whole and it’s the whole that people love. After twelve years, each one of us knows our place in that band and culture. With Black Dots Of Death, I’m the drummer, song writer, I do write some lyrics, and basically this band is everything I ever wanted to do. Mix all the different styles that I love, making music that actually makes your heart rate go up and making you feel very anxious almost to the point where you have to turn the song off. I believe this band represents a further down child that’s had his/her back turned on more, or maybe even a Slipknot fan. I’m going deeper and deeper in with this in a more dangerous way.

So in the end, with all of this personal struggle and psyche, this project has proven to be very therapeutic for you.

It is, because loss takes grief and I grieve through music. I write a song a day and I don’t change the song. I have one of the members of Black Dots Of Death coming over today, and we’re going to write a song that was inspired by today. And if he comes over tomorrow, we’re not going to work on today’s song because tomorrow’s a new day. And that’s what’s therapeutic for me. That’s how we get it done. I take everything in my day very seriously and don’t just walk around like a piece of cattle and let people just poke and prod me without somehow collecting the data and using it for art.

You just mentioned about a member of Black Dots Of Death joining you in a little bit to write music. Who else is involved with this project?

Well unfortunately, not to be one of those guys, but we [the band] have a website coming out seven days before the release (March 29th), and every day for seven days another part of the site is going to be revealed. On the 29th of March, the whole site will be revealed. That’s when you’ll know whose who and who does what. But the site is amazing and it’s a piece of art on to itself. It’s pretty focused on how serious we are and how much we don’t care, and where I’m at in the world. In my thinking, it’s profound because you can stare at one piece for a whole day. I’m an only child, so I live in my own imagination and I can take a scenario and over play it like a skipping record or one riff in a song. I can just take one riff and just sit there for hours and hours and live in my own imagination. And that’s what the website is going to be like. You’ll only be able to open up one section each day, and you’ll get to indulge in that idea on that day. Then boom, you’ll come on the next day and the next thing will be open, then the third day so on.

I’m giving people the opportunity to have a moment to work with something again in music because the industry is going down. Record stores are disappearing. Mom and pop basically don’t exist anymore. Nothing is analog anymore. Everything is compressed and digital. Sure, you could buy it right now, but it doesn’t sound as good as it use to. My favorite thing when I was growing up was knowing that Van Halen was putting out a new record and then wanting to hear it. They would put out the record, you’d go to the store to get this big piece of vinyl, it would have a concept on the front, you’d sit there for hours looking at the sleeve and handful of pictures, and it meant something. You’d sit there listening to that record while holding that album and staring at the album cover. I never asked “who took the picture” or “who produced” or did anything like that, I just knew that the band accepted that photo and that there were reasons for it. So I would just sit there and just try to figure out the art form. And that’s what I’m getting at. That’s where we’re releasing all of the information because it’ll be there soon enough.

You just recently launched another website called ApocalypticNightmare.com, which not only highlights your musical projects, but also your production and art work. What inspired you to showcase your diverse work through a website?

Well, basically ApocalypticNightmare.com is actually something I’ve been trying to work on for eight years, but I keep firing people over it, and I have a lot of people in my business, from management to just business people who help me. But I wanted to created a cohesive site where people can just get the information quickly, get to it easy, and understand you. I’m making a “Death Star” so to speak, and if you watch Star Wars, the “Death Star” was never completed, as is the Apocalyptic Nightmare. But I wanted to start with what was the most important, and what’s most important is the music. That’s why when you go to the music section you see the bands that I produce. I produced all the bands on there, but I’m in more than half of them. For example, Brain Wash Love, if I have a song that doesn’t fit under anything I do with other people, I put it under there. It’s kind of like a solo thing. And then Dirtfedd and Gizmachi are a few bands that I’m not in that I produced, but To My Surprise and Dirty Little Rabbits are bands that I produced and also was in as a drummer, songwriter, arranger, lyricist sort of thing. And then obviously my current project that is my whole life and I’m putting all my stock in [Black Dots Of Death].

A lot of people don’t understand that, when they see the Clown perform, they automatically think that I’m just a percussionist. They don’t know that I’m a musician that plays drums. I play piano. I play guitar. I do a little bit of singing. I arrange. I write lyrics. I do remixes. My mom always said I was a renaissance man and that I’m going to have my hands in a little bit of everything, and that is who I am. So you go to ApocalypticNightmare.com and you’ll see the bands that I produce and the bands that I’m in, and then you’ll see that I paint and take photography, and that I have a Polaroid book coming out. The “discover” zone will be an area of where I put my friends up and showcase their videos, music and that kind of stuff to turn people like you on to that.

The site’s not even close to being done because I have to get the video section up, which is going to be super, super important because I’ve directed a lot of films for Slipknot. I’ve co-directed a lot of videos. I’ve pretty much written all of the treatments to the videos, and finally got my debut as director on the “Snuff” video. All that stuff will go up. So I basically am someone in metal, hard music and rock n’ roll that not only writes the song, but can write lyrics, record it, can remix it, can make the album cover, can make the video and pretty much do it all. That’s what I do. That’s who I am. Some have said that I’m a visionary. That’s kind of hard for me to swallow and say. It’s a high compliment. I don’t know if I can say that myself because it embarrasses me a bit. Why I don’t know, I just don’t like to tut my own horn. But the ApocalypticNightmare.com is just an intimate way to see everything that I do, and it’s not even close to being done yet.

With all of these different talents and sides to you, do you hope that fans remember you as a musician or visual artist?

I just want people to remember me as an artist. As far as visual, I believe that when I play the drum set, it’s the most intimate insight that you can have on me, and most people don’t get that privilege and ability to watch me be a drummer. If you ever watch me play drums, it’s a very different experience from what you’re use to. I mean, not to say that the Clown isn’t a serious person, cause he is and you don’t want to fuck around with the Clown, but when you watch me play drums, you’re getting such an intimate look into my pain. I’ve been known to cry when I play, and I just go into a different place.

I had a very bad temper growing up. I lived in a very unusual setting dealing certain things that our family was dealing with. And a lot of it was left alone so I wouldn’t be hurt, but my human instincts could pick up on the problems, and because I picked up on it and when people wouldn’t explain, I built up a rage. My mom wasn’t a hippy so to speak, but was very caring and didn’t want to follow the doctors’ suggestions on me taking medicine to slow me down. So we were left with one option. There was nobody in my family that played any sort of instrument, but my mom came home and was like “would you like to play a musical instrument?” Before she could finish, I was like “drum set.” I didn’t say drums, I said drum set. And my dad went out and bought me my first drum set, a Slingerland drum set, and within two weeks of having that drum set I had that fucker on fire in my basement! The cymbals were on fire, the drums were on fire, and I was in my own rock show! I hadn’t even been listening to anything as aggressive at that time in my life. I just knew where I was and my rage was just like “I’m going to play drums that are on fire! I don’t care what it does to the drums, I’m still going to play them!”

And that just all carried on. I take my photography and painting as seriously as I take my drum playing. So they’re all kind of the same factor. And I was brought up in a business family more than an artistic one. I know both sides. I’m not a dummy and I’m not going to be treated like a dummy, and I’m not going to have my hand held like an artist and just be told what to do. I’m always going to ask why, and am not going to put up with the standard bullshit that a lot of artists go through. I don’t want the record deal so bad that I’m just going to put up with the bad business. So I carry both heads, the business head and the artistic head, but I want to be known as an artist first and foremost. And when I work with bands I tell them that business wise I’ll help them, but I’m always playing the role of artist first.

While on the topic of the business side, do you fear that intellectual property/copyright issues with visual art will face a similar outcome as illegal music downloading?

Well, I’m constantly dealing with intellectual property because as of right now there’s no category for “visionary.” There’s a category for someone who writes a song and they get residuals on writing that song for the rest of their life. If you take someone like Bob Seger, “Old Time Rock N’ Roll,” how many times do you think that song is played on a radio station around the world on a daily basis? Hundreds of times! So he’s getting some pretty nice residuals every three months and that’s his retirement fund. I get frustrated because there is no category for “visionary.” I basically get hired to make sure that I will take the entity of whatever band I’m in to the next level so that we’re not yesterday’s news, so we’re not redundant, so we’re not repeating ourselves as far as artistic expression. It’s my job to be the guy who’s thinking ‘Hmm, we’ve already done this. Let me figure out a way to do something else that can keep people excited and bring in a new crowd.’

And it’s very frustrating that I constantly give my intellectual property to people, and it’s gotten pretty bad as of lately to where I just want to fucking tell everybody to suck it! Like ‘fuck you! You’ve made so much money off of me. Why should I even do anything for you?!’ People have a thought on what they might have to pay me, but they don’t understand that they pay their measly amount of money and I have to pay taxes on it, I have to pay my bills, I have to run my family of six and keep up maintenance on my house, and then I have no residuals coming in for the rest of my life. But my intellectual property is what kept things going forward and not backwards.

With all that in mind, how did you come to chose Rocket Science Ventures as the Black Dots Of Death’s label home?

To be honest with you, I don’t know the whole story, but what I can tell you is that we were planning on doing everything ourselves because I like it better that way. I funded the project. We recorded the project ourselves. We mixed it ourselves. We mastered it ourselves. I had a complete concept artistically, so I took all the photos. I had a concept with the video, so I had one of my friends shoot a video. The singer in the band took on the responsibility to learn how to do flash and web stuff. So he was able to work with someone else to do the web page that’s going on now. We basically did everything ourselves without any intention of help from anybody. So we were just using management, and then management was basically able to locate Rocket Science. And they’re a new, aggressive record label where they’re more into the development of what an artist has because the record deals are so bad now. Slipknot is one of those bands that are lucky to be on paper for the old deals because our future is kind of set with what is expected, like we go to make a new record, there’s a price behind it, we do it and then we go. Whereas those deals aren’t being done anymore, and things are so bad that I would never be a fool and sign some piece of shit deal.

Rocket Science has an aggressive way of thinking where they go with people that have their shit together, know what they’re doing, have a real sense and vision, and then they come in and they help develop. And that’s really what I need. I don’t really need a recording budget. I own my own recording gear. I do all of my mixing, mastering, and recording in house. I own all of my own equipment. And because everything is digital, it’s a lot easier for an artist to get things done five, six years ago. With Slipknot’s first two records, we started with a week of pre-production (five days hard and then two days to prepare yourself and get your shit down), then we’d record a record for three and a half months, each song taking seven to nine days, and then sending it out to be mixed was the second half, then to be mastered was the last half, then the photo shoot with some profound artist, and then putting it all together and getting it out there with a great marketing plan which management would get in. I just learned all that shit myself, and I have tools in front of me that I don’t need help with. Like iTunes, I can submit my band myself. I don’t need management to do that for me. I still have management do it for me, but I’m just saying that we live in a different era where there’s so much available for bands to do where you can really draw a lot of attention for yourself.

I had made this giant, black case out of a case that you keep guns or cameras in, and I put everything in there. It came with a butterfly knife, an hour glass so when my management turned it over, it was to remind them that time is running out. There was a page with the record deal with a black dot on the top. There was a little iPod shuffle with the record on it for them to listen to. So the case was filled with all these things, and Rocket Science got to see that and see how serious and visual I am. I pretty much made the best demo package that’s ever been created in this world. Except for someone like Great White, who I had heard one time actually stuck a CD down the belly of a shark and delivered it to the label. Whether that’s true or not, I don’t know. I just remember hearing that and thought that was pretty cool.

So I’m very big on visuals and very big on making an impact, and letting people know just how far I’m going to go. Like if you go on our website, we have four series of baby doll heads, and we’re going on this idea of when you’re born, a lot of people look at a baby as being the most beautiful thing, and it is (I have four of them). However, the minute a baby’s born, it’s already started to die. That’s kind of like the idea behind our album cover. Like “the minute you’re born, you’re already dying.” So we have four series of baby doll heads that I’m going to destroy myself. Kids will be able to pick the one that they want, and then I get it and turn it into something that it wasn’t. I’ll sign it and even take a picture with it, and then send it to them. They can hold a piece of history in their hands, artistically. And that’s important to me.

So on there, we also have a custom song, and unfortunately it’s a little expensive because things (like studio time) aren’t cheap, but we offer kids to be able to instead of “feeling” like a song is written for you, we’re going to write a song for you. So you submit to us in as many paragraphs as you want on a situation that’s happened to you, we read it, we approve it, we turn it into what we think, and then we put your paragraphs up on our webpage with the lyrics of the song we wrote for you for everyone to enjoy. So you know as a human that song WAS written for YOU, and someone like us, a band, took the time to take into account your situation. I mean, it’s not going to be about Big Bird getting killed, but it could be about a divorce, or someone being cheated on, substance abuse, losing a father or mother, or whatever it is. I just want it to be serious and I want kids to be able to give me an insight into their souls. Unfortunately, I have deals I have to split money with, and with recording it takes several days, so I just can’t do it for free. So there’s really not a lot of money being made here, but it’s the point that you don’t have to wonder about if a song is about you. I don’t know if anyone will ever do it, and I understand if they don’t, but I just feel like if it ever does get done, people will feel a great impact because we’re going to take it very, very serious, and I think they’re going to be very happily surprised when they get it.

That opportunity for fans is really interesting to hear because from what you told me earlier, this project started as a way for you to release your own personal struggles through music, and now you’re giving fans in a sense the same chance to do the same through this band. It’s really a unique way to not only further interact with the audience, but to also really expand the band’s music.

Well I’ve learned over 12 years of doing Slipknot, we call our fans the “Maggots” and I’ve learned that these kids are. And I believe the Black Dots Of Death is a more personal look into me. I believe there’s a more personal kid out there that’s even more detached than the “Maggots,” that’s had his/her back turned on them a little bit more. I feel like that’s who we’re going to represent. Like, we have a song called “Lower Than Dirt.” I don’t know anyone in this world that at one time or another had felt them self lower than dirt. So we’re trying to connect with people on a more mental status of where the world is and the frustrations of today.

I can’t tell you really what’s been going on for the past ten years because it’s always been about kicking the door in and proving that the ‘Knot would do it. Now I’m at an age where I kind of want to go back to communicating with kids again. I want to be able to go outside and sign autographs, talk to them and get to know them. I want to write a journal and take photos and get a real good sense of what I’m doing because with Slipknot things have moved by so quickly that, here I am ten years later, my bass player’s deceased, I started the band with him, and I really just don’t remember much. I remember bits and pieces, and when other people bring up things I start to remember, but I really don’t remember the overall dream because it’s always been about, at least from my position in the band, I’ve always been someone in the band that when you tell me I can’t I’m the one who proves to you that we can. I kick the fucking door in! Even if it’s locked and dead bolted, I don’t care! You’re not going to tell me that my band of nine people from Des Moines, Iowa wearing masks and overalls isn’t going to work! With the Black Dots, it’s the same philosophy, except it’s a more personal look into me as a person. With Slipknot, the pieces make the whole. We all know our place in that band, and it’s taken ten years to know that, but there’s no more ego, no more competition, no more bitches and hos and fucking drugs. We’ve been through it all, and we’re tired of it. Now it’s time to get down to business and get focused. I’m 41. My grandpa died in his late 60s. My dad died in his mid 60s. I’m pretty sure somewhere in the fucking 60s I’m disappearing from this planet. So I got minimum time to let people in on me.

Are you afraid, though, that your prior success with Slipknot might overshadow The Black Dots Of Death?

What else am I going to do, bro? I’m proud of Slipknot. We won a fucking Grammy! I’ve been to Russia. I’ve been to Bangkok. I’ve almost sold out Madison Square Garden. I’ve been on Conan O’Brian. I’ve been on Jay Leno. I’ve been to the MTV Video Awards. I’ve walked down red carpets. I’ve played in front of two people and I just played in front of 80,000 people at Download [Festival]. I’ve played under people like Marilyn Manson and bands like Metallica and Iron Maiden. My dreams are all fulfilled. If Slipknot gets put on my tombstone, I’m proud of it. It’s all up to the fans what they like. If fans want to turn their back on Black Dot because they worship Slipknot, so be it. I’m not going to force them. I don’t really care. I do this for me! I’m just doing the best to do the best with my art and give 100%, and that stands for something. It’s not to trick or force them. I’m just doing the best I can on what I’m doing now, and what I’m doing now is Black Dots Of Death.

If Slipknot overshadows what I do, there’s no problem in that because I started Slipknot. I mean, give me a fucking break, I’m not someone in the band that just came along later. I started this band, the philosophy of the band, with Paul Gray! There’s nothing more to be proud of than that. If there’s anything I’ve ever stood for in life, it’s “Fuck it all. Fuck this world. Fuck everything you stand for. Don’t belong. Don’t exist. Don’t give a shit. Don’t ever judge me.” I am me, I am who I am, I do what I do, and right now I’m doing Black Dots Of Death. If people don’t like, then they can fuck off. If they do love it, they can fuck off too. It doesn’t really matter to me. This is where I’m at artisitically, and this is where I’m going to be. I don’t know how much longer Slipknot is going to exist. I’m not a fortune teller. Do I want another record? Of course I do! Is there going to be another record? I’m not a fortune teller.

So my priorities right now are A) get everything done for the March 29th release, B) move into an area where the band will do some shows before June, and then C) concentrate everything I have for the tour in June for Slipknot to celebrate my bass player’s life, his love for the band, his love for fans, his love music, to celebrate his life, and in return the same thing for the eight of us. So it’s just a beautiful thing that’s going to happen. It’s very short, and there’s no talk as to what’s going to happen after that. There’s no recording. There’s no other tour dates. We haven’t even released all the dates that we’re doing because that’s just how we work, and it’s really not about that. It’s about a celebration of love and life lost, and looking at what we’ve done. It’ll be the first time we’ve toured without supporting a new record.

You briefly mentioned plans for the Black Dots Of Death to be performing live this year. Can you give us any more insight into the group’s live plans?

Oh yeah, it’s going 100%. I don’t do anything unless it’s live. That’s what I’m best at. Song writing is great, the studio is great, that’s all fun and dandy, but unless I get to perform it live and have salvation, it ain’t worth my time. We could go down to the basement and record a song a day for the rest of my fucking life and have 10,000 records on iTunes, but it’s not like sharing feelings with your bros on stage and then connecting with people that need it. I need that connection! I need that person in the front row to go “I feel that way!” And then spend time with them, have a beer with them. In Slipknot, I have so many people that want hugs. That shit’s important, man. That’s human connection, and I need that with Black Dots Of Death. So Black Dots Of Death 100% will be performing live. It’s going to be an experience. There will be nothing like it. I’m a very dangerous person, and I’m a lot more dangerous in my mind these days than I am physical, where in the early days I was a lot more physical. So the psyche that’s going to go into what we do is going to be very dangerous, and we’re going to get back to dangerous times. No more safe. When oil spills are going off in the ocean and it takes months to fucking cap it, it’s an insult to my intelligence and I have a feeling and frustration about that. The only way to get that out is to play it live and look at your brothers and go “Wow, that was great!” And then afterwards meet people that have your record that want to talk about it is one of the most beautiful feelings you can have. Supposedly the world’s going to end next year, and I just want you to know that the Black Dots Of Death will be playing on that day! I can even promise that my family is going to be there on that day. That’s how fucking serious I am. We will be playing that night. We’re the band that invites the end of the world because we’ll be headlining our own show and we will play until it’s done.

Has a location been chosen for the “end of the world” show?

We haven’t decided yet, but we’re playing it for sure. I mean, we’ve talked about it because I’m so sick and tired of people buying into shit. You don’t think that for centuries people have been talking about the world ending? Why shouldn’t it be any better now? Just because we have more TV shows that can decipher codes and repeat messages, all those people can go to hell. I’m playing that night and I’m going to play MY music because I have a 17 year old son who a couple of weeks ago looked at me while we were talking about Paul, and we were having a moment, and he looked at me saying “You know, dad, not to sound weird, but I can’t think of any other way of you dying than on stage.” And it made me feel really good. I was like “You know, that’s sad to think about. I hope it never happens. I hope I’m with you guys. I hope I’m with my wife,” but it made me think that I’ve proven myself to my family how much I give myself to who I am and how much of an artist I am that my own son can recognize that himself and was able to offer that to me. I thought that was just the most intimate thing that he felt that I give so much to what I am that he thought that would be the only way. That made me proud.

While on the topic of performing live, do you prefer performing in large or small settings?

To be honest with you, I never ask how many people are there. I very rarely ask where we’re playing when we’re in Slipknot. I never ask how many people end up being there after a Slipknot show. And some of these other bands that I’ve done, I’ve been in a van and have gone to these bullshit clubs and played in front of twenty people, and those have been some of my favorite shows. Some of my favorite memories are when Slipknot was nobody and we weren’t signed. We played in front of a couple dozen people, and that were some of my best memories. I don’t need tens of thousands of people to make me happy. First of all, festival shows blow because you’re 30 feet up in the air, 60 feet away from the crowd and you’re up their basically fighting your own pain. You got to be inspired to do it that way, and if you can’t draw that inspiration, you’re screwed!

I love having the drum set on the floor without a riser, and just anything goes. If someone wants to jump up and tackle me, then that’s real life. That’s where it started. I grew up in the 70’s, but once I was old enough to get my own grip on things, I was able to get into punk rock. From Black Flag, Scratch Acid, The Sex Pistols, The Ramones, The Stooges, to whatever! I grew up on highly aggressive music that just did not fucking care. Like here in Des Moines, Iowa, these bands would roll into town and play the Botanical Center. They’d rent out a little hall and PA in this large dome, and bands like Black Flag would just roll through. It’s just like “What the fuck?!” That’s what it’s all about. Punk bands just showing up, playing people’s basements and just going nuts.

If you are interested in working with Clown in some fashion, from production to remixes to art and everything in between, you can contact his management through email at [email protected]

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